BEFORE THE FALL (NaPoLa) (2004) - ♦♦♦

Directed by - Dennis Gansel

Written by - Dennis Gansel, Maggie Peren

Starring - Max Piemelt, Tom Schilling, Michael Schenk, Justus von Dohanyi

"A boy, with excellent boxing skills, defies his anti-Nazi father to attend an elite school for the making of Nazi leaders to be, the NaPoLa. 

Though the subject is original,  and indeed quite interesting offering many points of darkness to what can be usually identified as a conventional narrative structure, the actual storyline of Before the Fall moves in an all too disappointingly formulaic way and this leads to an overall lack in excitement and eventually causes the film to falter in driving force.

The photography is particularly inspired, so Dennis Gansel's film looks quite good, coated in a darkness that heightens its psychological intensity. But this ambition is not matched by the rather tame and predictably structured screenplay."

Drama, Germany